From Model Airplanes to Flying Lessons
I was born and raised on a farm just outside of Mason, Michigan. I was the youngest of seven children. My father passed away when I was six years old. It was my oldest brother, Harley, who assumed the role of the father figure for our family.
My first encounter with airplanes was a toy airplane that Harley had won in a raffle sponsored by the Adams Theater in Mason. It was big enough for me to sit on and when I pushed the pedals, the wings went up and down. That toy, undoubtedly, sparked my interest in airplanes and flying. When I was about seven, I began building model airplanes.
In 1936, at the age of 12, I had my first airplane
ride. We took off from a hay field by the fairgrounds in Mason. My first
flight was in a Waco Biplane flown by a famous aviator, Art Davis. Years later I
flew the world's smallest airplane in an airshow at Phoenix, and Art Davis flew a Waco
Biplane in the same show! What a trill and a coincidence.
When I was about twelve years old, I organized a model airplane club in Mason and made arrangements with a model supply shop in Lansing to sell model supplies from my home. I went to many model meets with my airplanes. I actually traded one of my model airplanes for an original Edison Phonograph and 50 cylinders. That phonograph is still in the family today.
At the age of fifteen, I began taking flying lessons at Capital City Airport in Lansing, Michigan. About that time World War II had begun, so I went to Lansing and passed the Aviation Cadet exam. I was accepted, even though I was only 17. My mother, reluctantly, signed the release that enabled me to enter the service under age. I completed high school and college while in the service. One the best choices in life I have ever made.
I had a lot of experiences while in the service. I flew P-17's, AT-6's and the P-51 Mustang, my favorite. I trained the chinese pilots in India, bailed out of my fighter at 800 feet over mainland China, and was a member of the Fourteenth Airforce Flying Tigers during the war. I was 21 years old, when I returned from overseas. What an adventurous life for a farm boy from Mason, Michigan
.
I married Audrey and we moved to
California to start our family. I went to work for Lockheed. Around 1950 I met a man
that had built a little airplane which he called the "World's Smallest". In my
spare time, I became the pilot and co-builder of Sky Baby. I was the only pilot who was
consistently able to fly it without cracking it up.
Crop Dusting and Sky Baby
In the meantime, I began teaching myself how to crop dust, while I was working for Northrup and Lockheed as an aircraft mechanic. In my spare time, I flew Sky Baby at air shows. It was the world's smallest airplane, according to record books in 1950.
My Wife, Audrey, and 'Sky Baby' in 1954.
I flew Sky Baby at the Detroit Airshow in 1952. However, as fun as it was, to be co-builder and only pilot of Sky Baby, problems developed between myself and my partner. My name failed to be mentioned in much of the publicity surrounding the success of the project. It was at this point I decided to go my own way. I knew I could build and fly a superior plane that would take all the records.
When I turned 60, I decided it was time to start working on breaking the record again. Refer to the Bumble Bee I and II information on the adjoining pages. I built them both in my backyard workshop, with the help of my son, Bob Jr. and my wife, Audrey. I had no blueprints to go from. I just used hand drawn, cardboard cutouts as reference for the jigs to make the parts of the air frame. The plans had been stored in my brain for years. My daughter Robin has also been bitten by the aviation bug. She is a licensed pilot and skydive instructor.
Chasing UFO's in F-86's: Chasing UFO's
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Pima Air Museum, the permanent home of the Bumble Bee: http://www.pimaair.org/
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